Frank Lampard’s Everton travel up North to take on high flying Newcastle United in the midweek Premier League fixtures.
The Blues started to pick up form after their slow start to the campaign however they have picked up zero points in their last two games which have been against Manchester United and Tottenham.
Now they have a chance to get back on track though as they will not be coming up against one of the ‘big six’.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle sit sixth in the table with their latest result being a 0-0 draw with Manchester United, doing what Everton couldn’t and getting a point out of Erik Ten Haag’s men.
Everton sit in the bottom half just two points off Southampton who occupy the last place in the relegation zone so a win will be important even though it is still early on in the season.
Mason Holgate will be back in the squad for the trip with other defender Ben Godfrey not quite ready, but he is back on the grass which is a big step towards his recovery.
Yerry Mina has had a setback in his recovery so he will be out of action for a long period of time and Lampard stated that they have to be ‘careful’ with striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin so whether he will part of the travelling squad is touch and go.
Anthony Gordon, who was linked to Newcastle briefly in the summer, will be back in the side after serving his one game suspension for accumulating five yellow cards.
Andros Townsend and Nathan Patterson are long term absentees.
For Newcastle key men Allan Saint-Maximin and Alexander Isak will still be unavailable with the latter being ruled out of the World Cup after suffering a setback on his thigh.
Karl Darlow is back in training with Matt Ritchie’s return date unknown, Emil Krafth is ruled out until early March.
Lampard will have contrasting memories from facing Newcastle last season as in this fixture last season he was well and truly beaten 3-1 leaving Everton in severe trouble even though it was only February.
A month later in March The Toffees beat them at Goodison Park in the last minute thanks to Alex Iwobi and it sparked a change of fortune for fans as they had belief in Lampard that he could get them out of the mess.
They had their struggles after that game but in the end they survived by the skin of their teeth Everton with that game being vital.
Supporters will be hoping it will be looked back on as another important result this season with a victory.
